Jeremiah Pot's Classic Children's Tales
by a-scribbler-26
Summary: A collection of tales with a twist from my dear OC's - Jeremiah Pot The Storyteller and Linda, his faithless sidekick.
1. Jeremiah's Note

_Greetings children. I am Jeremiah Pot. I live in a library, used by few people. I sit beside my book on a dusty shelf, waiting for someone to open it's crinkled pages. But I am not alone. The book is alive with wonder and it's stories move about it's pages. And I have Linda. She is my wonderful sidekick- part skeleton and part fairy. She tells the tales of ye olde beasties, seeming as she knows them best._

_**But I warn you know as a friend. These stories are not your happy fairytales. **__They're full of spooky beasts and creatures of the night, death and decay are everywhere in sight! You can't escape the tales once you open the book._

_Jeremiah Pot's Storybook that is. The book full of tales that will blow your mind and mesmerise as well as horrify and make you look twice over your shoulder when you walk._

_If you think you can, I __dare__ you to read on._

_Jeremiah and Linda x_


	2. Briar The Brat Who Got Squished Flat

_Greetings everyone. I am __Jeremiah Pot.__ This is my Storybook. Inside there are wonders and spells, charms and mythical creatures. But be warned- __there is rarely a happy ending._

Briar was a young girl. She lived in a small village in Wales with her Aunt and Uncle. They themselves had four children- Briar's cousins- and all of them were boys. Of course, all the boys in the village had eyes for Briar for she was as fairer maid as there was. She had long blonde hair and sparkling green eyes. Her cheeks were wonderfully rosy and she never once frowned- not even when it rained on a Sunday and she got muddy on the way home from church! But Briar made all the other girls jealous. They ran to her cousins.

"Michael! William! Tristan! Oliver!" They would cry, "You must take these boy's eyes off of Briar! We don't like it!"

And of course her cousins would give in to the batting lashes of the village girls. They warned the other boys to stay away from Briar- or they'd do horrid things to them. Suddenly no-one paid any attention to Briar. Without them to look at her, she wasn't the prettiest in the village anymore. And that upset her greatly.

"Why won't anyone look at me anymore?" She asked her mirror one morning, "What went wrong?"

She twisted her hair in between her long fingers and sighed. She just didn't understand! Seeking comfort, she went to her dearest cousin Oliver.

"Oliver? Why won't the boys look at me anymore?" She asked sweetly.

Oliver knew the reason, but he couldn't tell Briar. He just shrugged his shoulders and went about his business, sweeping the yard. Briar huffed, getting angry with everyone ignoring her. She went to Michael and William next, both of them sat by the stream skimming stones.

"Michael, William." She demanded, "Why isn't anyone paying attention to me?!"

Michael tossed another pebble into the stream before looking up at Briar.

"We don't know Briar. We thought they were." He smiled.

Briar gritted her teeth, feeling that Michael was making fun of her. How dare he! She stormed off to find her least favourite cousin Tristan.

"Tristan!" She yelled, shoving open his door, "Why won't anybody look at me?!"

Tristan looked at Briar, knowing that if he didn't give her an answer he'd be in a lot of trouble.

"The girls in the village asked us to tell the boys not to look at you." He said quickly.

A red mist covered Briar's eyes- they had done **what?!** She covered her anger, smiling sweetly at her cousin. She took a step towards his workbench, picking up a hammer and twisting it in her fingers.

"You shouldn't-" Tristan began, before screaming.

Briar drove the forked end of the hammer into Tristan's eye, watching as he fell to the floor. Blood began to flow across the cobbles as she realised what she had done. Oddly it didn't horrify her, it just made her feel powerful. She smiled as she left his room, walking out across the yard to the main building.

At dinner, Briar sat next to her Uncle, picking vaguely at her food. Everyone was there apart from Tristan.

"Has anyone seen Tristan?" Her Aunt asked, sitting herself down.

Everyone shook their heads.

"I'm sure he's just gone into town to be with that barmaid." William sniggered.

Briar forced a smile- she was the only one he knew where he was. She finished up her dinner and left the table, walking out across the yard to her room. One of the village girls was stood at the farm gate however and called Briar over. Briar despised the sight of the 'gang leader' of the village girls- Daisy Udderton.

"How are you Briar?" She smiled tauntingly.

"I'm fine Daisy. Why are you here?" Briar tried to sound nice.

"Oh I'm waiting for William. We have some things to talk about."

Briar smiled, noticing a loose brick in the wall. She moved over, shuffling it out and holding it in her smooth palm."What on earth could you need that for?" Daisy smiled.

"Oh nothing." Briar said, standing in front of her again, "Can I talk to you a moment Daisy? I want to show you something."

Daisy let Briar open the farm gate. They walked into the woods, talking like they were old friends. Briar stopped in the middle of the wood when she had Daisy's back to a tree. She smiled in the growing darkness, fiddling with the brick behind her back."So? What now?" Daisy asked, twirling her hair.

Briar smiled as she swung the brick out from behind her back, hammering it into Daisy's curly-haired head until it stuck nicely to the tree behind her. Briar skipped out of the woods, dropping the brick into the dead leaves.

The newborn murderer woke up the next morning in her bloody clothes. Her Aunt walked in and Briar pulled the covers up around her neck, hiding them from view. It wasn't that much blood, but enough.

"Good morning lovely." Her aunt smiled, "Will you help Michael and William for me today?"

Briar nodded, smiling sweetly until her Aunt laughed. When the door was closed she rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. She got out of bed, washing and changing into fresh clothes before heading outside. She didn't want to go to breakfast that morning, figuring the absence of Tristan would be too awkward. Instead she walked to the stream, sitting on a rock and staring into it. It was quite deep- deep enough to drown in. She smiled at the thought, tossing a pebble into it's depths.

"Briar, what are you doing out here?"

She turned and smiled at William, "Oh nothing."

He sat down beside her on the grass, throwing a pebble into the stream. Michael soon followed, greeting Briar. Without warning Briar shoved the relaxed shoulder of William, sending him sprawling off the back. He clawed for something to hold on to, grabbing Michael's ankle. The older cousin slipped, crashing into the floor and knocking himself out. They both slid into the waters.

"Two birds with one stone they say." Briar smiled as she walked away from the splashing.

Later Briar skipped dinner. Her Uncle came into her room looking tired and worried.

"Whatever is the matter Uncle?" She asked.

"I can't find your cousins and Oliver has come down with a terrible fever. We can't get a doctor in and we don't know if he'll last the night." He muttered sadly.

"Uncle," Briar said, putting a hand gently on his shoulder, "Shall I take a look at him?"

Her Uncle thanked her for her help and took her to Oliver's chambers. He closed the door and she listened to his footsteps fade away.

"Hello Oliver." She smiled in the candlelight.

"S-stay away from me! I know what you did to the others!"

"I don't know what you mean!" Briar chuckled, picking up an apple from the table.

Oliver watched, helpless as she came towards him. She wedged the apple into his mouth, making sure he couldn't scream or make a sound. Smiling she tipped the candle up on his bed, watching as the flames took to his woven sheets. She left the room, watching as a small plume of smoke rose from the keyhole. Quickly she left the farm, looking behind her as she fled to watch the flames take hold. Whilst watching the flames grow higher a passing coach ran into devious Briar, knocking her flat and trampling over her. She died slowly and in much agony as horses trampled over her on their way into the town.

No-one came to Briar's funeral. She was buried in a paupers grave with many other rotting corpses. At least she was the prettiest corpse in the grave though.

_I warned you about my endings didn't I? But there was the tale of Briar The Brat and the horrible things she did, at that! Let this be a lesson, boys and girls. Don't be like Briar, because fun can sometimes be deadly… __**Jeremiah Pot.**_


End file.
